More than 100 anglers cast their lines in the Peel region’s waters for the Mandurah Offshore Fishing and Sailing Club’s 2018 RMarine Fishing Classic on Saturday.
The majority of 117 fishers hit the deep-sea waters looking for the biggest catch of the competition’s 15 nominated species, with some impressive results hauled aboard.
Darren Perkins landed an eye-catching dhufish to take out the category’s top prize, with his fish weighing in at 16.825 kilograms.
Ed Bradfield also drew the awe of the crowd with his 2.365 kilogram flathead, while Brett Wilhelm 2.3 kilogram tuna earned him the mystery fish prize.
Dylan Pickan’s 1.42 metre-long shark saw him top the category, which was the only one to be judged on length rather than weight.
Other winners included Jaden Camito (break sea cod, 1.73kg and herring, 0.14kg), Alex Ashcroft (skippy, 1.565kg), Andrew Haines (king george whiting, 0.880kg), Troy Barber (whiting, 0.175kg and bream 0.82kg), Wayne Goodchild (bald chin groper, 5.105kg) and Paul Lamont (flounder, 0.415).
Event organiser Gary Russell-Brown said the club was thrilled with the turnout for this year’s Classic, and hopes it would continue to build.
“We’re about 30 competitors up on last year’s event so we’re rapt to see such a good turnout,” he said.
“We’re probably happiest to see so many kids getting involved – Mandurah is a fishing town so it’s great to have the next generation out there with a line in the water.”
Russell-Brown also commented on the popularity of Mandurah’s booming artificial reef, installed by Recfishwest in 2016.
“The amount of marine life species living on that structure is outstanding – it’s definitely one of the more popular spots to fish and I think we had a fair few boats on it for the Classic,” he said.
“It was good to see so many different approaches to the competition. Some boats only headed out three kilometres and others went as far as 40.
“We’ll definitely try to build on this year’s success when the next event rolls around.”
For more information on the Mandurah Offshore Fishing and Sailing Club’s competitions call 9535 6251.